Big Games Preview by Stats LLC
October 29th, 2009 | By boadurichard
Georgia-Florida Preview
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Neither Florida nor Georgia has forgotten the controversies from their last two meetings that have further flamed the rivalry.
The top-ranked Gators, though, have more important things to focus on as they prepare to take on the Bulldogs in Jacksonville, Fla. on Saturday.
In what has been a one-sided rivalry in recent years with Florida (7-0, 5-0 SEC) winning 16 of the last 19 matchups, the last two meetings have been memorable for reasons other than the result of the games.
In 2007, urged on by coach Mark Richt, the entire Georgia team stormed the field to celebrate its opening touchdown en route to a rare Bulldogs victory. Last year, in what many viewed as retaliation, Florida coach Urban Meyer called two timeouts in the final 44 seconds of the Gators’ 49-10 pounding of the Bulldogs.
Meyer denied calling the timeouts was about revenge, but Georgia players have a different take. A photo of Meyer with his hands raised in a T hangs all over the team’s training facility, providing a bitter reminder of what happened.
“Of course, that’s going to be a very big motivating factor for us,” Georgia safety Bryan Evans said. “Every time we see his hands in the timeout position, it reminds us of what happened last year.”
While Georgia players are using last season’s tense finish as extra motivation for the latest installment of the rivalry, Florida needs little incentive as it chases a second straight national championship.
The Gators, who also hold the top spot in the BCS poll, are coming off a 29-19 win at Mississippi State last Saturday. Mississippi State tied the game in the third quarter, but Florida ran off 16 straight points, capped by an interception returned for a touchdown. Replays show it may have been fumbled before crossing the goal line, but an officials review upheld the score.
The Gators weren’t interested this week in debating that call, however, as they have bigger concerns given the recent inconsistency of Tim Tebow, who was 12 for 22 for 127 yards Saturday and failed to throw a touchdown for the second time this season. He threw a season-high two interceptions, giving him four for the season.
After throwing six touchdowns and one interception in the first four games, Tebow has passed for two scores and three picks in the last three contests.
“I don’t think it’s getting to me,” Tebow said. “Do I put pressure on me? Yeah. I put a lot more pressure than y’all could possibly put on me, so I don’t think that’s getting to me. I think just wanting to excel, wanting everything to be right.”
Not all of Tebow’s problems are solely in his control, however. He’s been sacked 15 times this season, equaling his total from 14 games last season.
“Tim’s not trying to be a hero,” Meyer said. “But we might be asking him to do too much.”
Tebow has six rushing touchdowns this season and 49 for his career, one shy of breaking former Georgia standout Herschel Walker’s SEC record.
While Tebow breaking Walker’s record may be inevitable, Georgia (4-3, 3-2) will try its best to prevent him from doing it this weekend.
The Bulldogs are hoping that an upset of the Gators could push them back into the SEC East race. They rebounded from back-to-back losses against LSU and Tennessee with a 34-10 victory at Vanderbilt on Oct. 17 and are coming off a bye.
Georgia had one of its best games of the season the last time out. Joe Cox threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns while the team rushed for a season-high 173 yards. The Bulldogs are last in the SEC in rushing yards per game at 108.0.
“(The running game) didn’t do a lot at first but if you keep driving the ball, it opens up play-action and then you’ll start getting big runs and that’s how you put teams away,” said Cox, who is third in the conference with 1,581 passing yards this season. “It wasn’t our best day running the ball, but it was effective when we needed it to be.”
The much-maligned defense also came up big. Ranked 100th nationally in scoring defense entering the game, Georgia came up with three sacks and had an interception that set up a touchdown.
This is the fourth time the Bulldogs are playing the nation’s No. 1 team. Two of the previous three were against Florida — in 1985 and 1996.
“The hatred is already there with the fans, the coaches, everyone,” Georgia linebacker Rennie Curran said of the rivalry. “There’s no other way to put it: We just don’t like each other.”
Texas-Oklahoma St. Preview
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Texas star Colt McCoy is the reigning Big 12 offensive player of the week and the nation’s second-most accurate passer. Oklahoma State knows all too well about how difficult it is to defend against the Heisman Trophy candidate.
The lone remaining teams with perfect Big 12 records meet with first place in the South Division on the line when McCoy and the third-ranked Longhorns try to extend their 11-game winning streak over the 13th-ranked Cowboys on Saturday night in Stillwater.
Texas (7-0, 4-0) hasn’t lost to Oklahoma State (6-1, 3-0) since a 42-16 defeat Oct. 4, 1997, and leads the all-time series 21-2. The 1997 game was the last time the Longhorns entered this matchup as an unranked team while the Cowboys have been ranked just three times during the 11-game slide.
The Cowboys believe this is their best chance to end that run of futility, having won five straight since a 45-35 loss to Houston on Sept. 12.
“I haven’t beat them since I’ve been here, same for the guys in there,” senior quarterback Zac Robinson said. “It’s a little extra motivation obviously with what’s on the line and both teams playing well right now. Having them at our place will be a lot of fun.”
Oklahoma State will have to do a better job of slowing down McCoy, whose 71.7 completion percentage is second in the country to Arizona’s Nick Foles (72.3). McCoy has been even better against the Cowboys, completing 79.4 percent for 1,019 yards to go 3-0.
In his lone visit to Boone-Pickens Stadium on Nov. 3, 2007, McCoy was 20 of 28 for 282 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. He helped engineer a comeback from a 21-point deficit entering the fourth quarter in a 38-35 victory.
“You can’t really see how good they really are on film because they are going to play like a different team when we are there,” McCoy said about the Cowboys’ defense. “Their intensity is going to rise. We are playing at their place at night, and it’s a conference game, so you can’t really see that side of it when you watch film.”
McCoy passed for 391 yards — his highest total in a Big 12 game — and two touchdowns while the Longhorns used two big defensive stands in the fourth quarter for a 28-24 win over the Cowboys last season in Austin.
Last week, McCoy threw for 269 yards and three scores while completing 26 of 31 passes in a 41-7 rout at Missouri, earning conference offensive player of the week honors and extending his school-record streak of consecutive games with a TD pass to 24.
The Longhorns also are trying to move up in the BCS standings as they currently trail Florida and Alabama.
“You can feel pressure or you can go in and say, ‘We are Texas,’” coach Mack Brown said. “We’ve earned the right to be good here so let’s go ahead and act like you’re good and walk into the stadium like you’re going to win the game.”
Although Texas lost three defensive starters in the first three rounds of the NFL draft in April, its current defense is ranked second in the nation. Three of the last four Texas opponents have managed fewer than 175 yards of offense, and the last five have averaged 0.8 yards per carry.
“They’re very athletic. They can run and they are physical,” Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said of the Longhorns’ defense. “They’ve been that way for a number of years and I think they’re very well-coached.
Robinson has thrown for 629 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in two career matchups with the Longhorns. He was sacked five times in last season’s loss.
The quarterback is 218 yards away from breaking Gundy’s school record for career passing yards (7,997). Robinson was 23 of 27 for 250 yards and a season-high three touchdowns in last Saturday’s 34-7 win at Baylor.
“He’s playing with more confidence. He’s managed the game very well,” Gundy said. “In my opinion, being a good quarterback is being able to manage the game in understanding what your strengths are and where their weaknesses are and try to attack those areas using what your strengths are as an offense. I think he’s done a pretty good job of that over the last few weeks.”
Cowboys running back Kendall Hunter, an all-Big 12 selection as the league’s leading rusher a season ago, has missed the last five games with a sprained ankle and is expected to have a limited role if he plays Saturday. Hunter ran for 161 yards on 18 carries at Texas last year.
Keith Toston has replaced Hunter the last five games, averaging 97.0 yards on the ground.
Oklahoma State learned Tuesday that the NCAA has upheld the suspension of All-American wide receiver Dez Bryant for the remainder of the 2009 season. The university announced on Oct. 7 Bryant was declared ineligible for lying about his relationship with former NFL star Deion Sanders.
Bryant, a junior, will be eligible to play in 2010. He caught 87 passes for 1,480 yards and 19 touchdowns last season while also scoring twice on punt returns. This season, Bryant led the team with 17 catches for 323 yards and four touchdowns through OSU’s first three games.
Southern Cal-Oregon Preview
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While the Pac-10 champion won’t be crowned in Saturday’s top-10 matchup at Oregon, Southern California’s conference title hopes would all but end with a loss.
The fourth-ranked Trojans look to stay in the hunt for an eighth consecutive league title and shore up some defensive breakdowns when they visit the 10th-ranked Ducks and their prolific offense.
In less than two months, Oregon (6-1, 4-0) has made a season that could have become defined by an embarrassing loss at Boise State — and LeGarrette Blount’s infamous punch — into one with a chance to win its first Pac-10 title since 2001.
Riding a six-game winning streak, the Ducks, off to their best conference start since opening the 2000 season with seven straight league wins, stand alone atop the Pac-10.
Their lead is hardly safe.
USC (6-1, 3-1) and Arizona are tied for second, and either team could take the conference crown by winning out.
“Our conference is as tough right now, as I’m seeing it, as I’ve ever seen,” USC coach Pete Carroll said. “The team that makes it through it on top is going to be really good.”
The Trojans have owned at least a share of the Pac-10 title each season since Oregon last won it, but they’ll likely be out of the running should they lose this weekend.
To avoid that fate, USC’s defense will likely need to improve upon its performance from last Saturday’s 42-36 win over Oregon State.
The Trojans allowed the Beavers to roll up 482 yards of total offense, the most yielded by USC since giving up 556 yards to Texas in a 41-38 Rose Bowl loss following the 2005 season.
It was also the second straight shaky defensive effort for USC, which gave up 367 total yards in a 34-27 defeat at then-No. 25 Notre Dame on Oct. 17. The Trojans allowed an average of 8.6 points and 238.6 yards in their first five games.
Despite the disconcerting trend, defensive tackle Armond Armstead isn’t worried.
“It wasn’t like they were constantly moving down the field and scoring on us,” Armstead said. “The mistakes that were made can definitely be corrected. We know we have a good defense here, and we just need to play 60 minutes.”
Proving it for 60 minutes against a high-powered Oregon offense led by a healthy quarterback Jeremiah Masoli should be quite a challenge.
Masoli missed the Ducks’ 24-10 win over UCLA on Oct. 10 with a knee injury, and the offense never got in sync. He returned to the lineup last Saturday and didn’t seem to miss a beat, passing for 157 yards and a touchdown and running for 54 yards and two scores in a 43-19 victory over Washington.
The versatile quarterback is the key to Oregon’s offense, with the team averaging 45.7 points and 484.7 yards in the last three games he has played.
Masoli isn’t the only playmaker the Trojans need to contain.
LaMichael James, Oregon’s workhorse since Blount’s suspension, has rushed for 657 yards and six touchdowns in his last five games. The redshirt freshman running back totaled 154 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Huskies, and has had at least one run of at least 26 yards in each of his last six games.
“He’s got great vision and toughness,” Oregon coach Chip Kelly said. “He’s a hard player to knock down because of his size. He’s pretty solid and I think he’s just gotten better each week and it will be exciting to see him match up with this team that USC has on defense.”
While Masoli and James lead the offense, the Ducks’ defense has been just as impressive.
Oregon limited Washington to three points through three quarters last week, and has held three of its last four opponents to 211 yards or fewer.
The Ducks’ 19 takeaways are tied for the Pac-10 lead — posing a tough challenge for mistake-prone Trojans quarterback Matt Barkley.
The freshman has thrown at least one interception in each of his last three games, including two last week. Barkley has thrown for 1,540 yards with seven TDs and five interceptions in six games this season.
USC may need its steady ground attack featuring Joe McKnight and Allen Bradford to take the pressure off Barkley.
McKnight was limited last week because of sore hands and finished with 65 rushing yards on 11 carries, but Bradford ran for a career-high 147 yards and two scores.
“This is a great task for us and we are going to have to put together a terrific plan on both sides of the ball and on special teams to matchup,” Carroll said.
The Trojans defeated Oregon 44-10 last season but lost 24-17 loss to the then-No. 5 Ducks in their last trip to Autzen Stadium in 2007. That was USC’s only defeat in the last five meetings.
NFL
Dolphins-Jets Preview
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The New York Jets’ three-game losing streak is over thanks to last week’s blowout victory, but it would mean a lot more if they can get some revenge against the archrival Miami Dolphins on Sunday at Giants Stadium.
It’s the same venue where the Dolphins secured the AFC East title with a 24-17 victory over the Jets to close the 2008 regular season. New York didn’t fare better in the rematch Oct. 12, losing 31-27.
However, it’s the Dolphins (2-4) who are at the bottom of the division while New York (4-3) is on first-place New England’s heels after a much-needed victory last Sunday.
That 38-0 win in Oakland let the Jets not only snap their skid but regain some confidence. Their defense forced four turnovers and blanked an opponent for the first time in nearly six years despite playing its first game without nose tackle Kris Jenkins, who was lost for the season to a torn ACL the previous week against Buffalo.
“It makes it so easy on the offense when your defense is playing like that,” rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez said. “Hats off to them, they had a heck of a game to shut that team out. I don’t care who we’re playing, that’s a big-time accomplishment for our team.”
Sanchez, who had thrown five interceptions in a 16-13 overtime loss to the Bills, was just 9 of 15 for 143 yards and a touchdown last Sunday while embattled receiver Braylon Edwards was held to one catch for 14 yards. Edwards was charged with misdemeanor assault this week stemming from an altercation in Cleveland before he was traded to the Jets.
But the passing game had the pressure relieved as the Jets rolled up more than 300 yards on the ground for the second straight week — the first team to do that since Buffalo in 1975. New York achieved the feat even though running back Leon Washington suffered a season-ending broken leg early in the game.
While starter Thomas Jones had 26 carries for 121 yards and a touchdown, perhaps the more impressive performance came from rookie Shonn Greene, who racked up 144 yards and two TDs on 19 carries in his first extended action.
“I just look forward to more opportunities,” Greene said. “I’m not going to fill Leon’s shoes, but I’m going to do the best I can.”
New York has the league’s best rushing offense, averaging 184.9 yards per game, but the Dolphins hold second place in that category (170.3).
Miami had 151 rushing yards in its Week 5 win over the Jets, with Ronnie Brown’s two-yard touchdown out of the wildcat formation providing the winning score with six seconds to play.
“I used to see all those gimmicks when I was coaching back in college,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said of the tactic, blaming his own team’s defense. “I’ve been a part of some bad performances before on defense, just not this bad.”
Even though Miami’s wildcat struggled against New Orleans on Sunday, totaling 30 yards in 14 plays, the Dolphins still had a chance to knock off the unbeaten Saints. Miami was up 21 in the first half and 10 early in the fourth quarter only to allow the final 22 points in a 46-34 loss.
After throwing three touchdowns and no interceptions in his first two NFL starts, Chad Henne had two picks returned for scores, including the decisive blow with two minutes to play.
Wide receiver Ted Ginn also struggled, dropping three passes and tipping one of the interceptions.
“We have to have good timing with the wideouts, have to run good routes, and I have to put the ball where it needs to be,” Henne said. “There were some miscues there with me and the wide receivers.”
Henne played much better against the Jets three weeks ago, going 20 for 26 for 241 yards and two touchdowns — one a 53-yarder to Ginn, the No. 9 overall draft pick in 2007.
“We made (Henne) look like Dan Marino,” Jets linebacker Calvin Pace said. “They did what they want, and they did it at will.”
The Dolphins are trying to avoid a fifth loss, which would equal their total from the entire 2008 regular season. Coach Tony Sparano said his team isn’t thinking about its already dimming hopes of returning to the playoffs.
“When you put yourself in the hole that we put ourselves into, we can’t have those thoughts,” Sparano said. “We just have to think about our next week, and I think right now we have to worry about the Jets and winning a ballgame on the road, and another division game.”
The Dolphins are 2-0 in AFC East games, but they’ll have to move on without starting cornerback Will Allen, who tore his ACL against New Orleans and will miss the rest of the season.
Giants-Eagles Preview
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Although the cities of New York and Philadelphia will no doubt be focusing on the World Series matchup of the Yankees and Phillies this weekend, it will be difficult for fans not to turn their attention to the meeting between the Giants and Eagles.
Making the game between the NFC East rivals all the more enticing is the fact that the Eagles ruined the Giants’ hopes of repeating as Super Bowl champions last season.
A busy Sunday of sports in Philadelphia starts at Lincoln Financial Field, where the Eagles look to hand the suddenly vulnerable Giants a third straight loss and gain at least a share of first place in the division.
Before the Yankees and Phillies play Game 4 of the World Series at Citizens Bank Park, one of the NFL’s fiercest rivalries will continue across the street.
“We love it, we love it,” Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb said. “Everyone can tune into our game first and go to the bathroom and refresh your popcorn and drinks and then go out and watch the excellent baseball game.”
The Giants (5-2) lead Philadelphia (4-2) and Dallas in the division, with the Eagles set to host the Cowboys next weekend.
“It is a divisional game; we have a half-a-game lead on the Philadelphia Eagles,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “The game is in Philadelphia. I don’t know that it gets any more exciting.”
New York will likely have the bitter end to last season on its mind. The Giants went 12-4 to earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC but fell 23-11 to the Eagles in a divisional playoff game — one of two home losses to Philadelphia that season.
“We have a big game vs. Philly at Philly, it’s a huge game,” Giants quarterback Eli Manning said. “We know it’s going to be a tough battle, but we have to go out there, play well and eliminate the mistakes.”
Manning, 4-0 as a starter in the regular season at Philadelphia, knows he has to cut down on his miscues after the last two games. He had 10 touchdowns and two interceptions during the Giants’ 5-0 start but threw for two scores and four interceptions in the losses.
Manning was 19 of 37 for 243 yards with one touchdown and three INTs in last Sunday’s 24-17 home loss to Arizona. He was sacked three times, matching his total in that category over the first six games.
McNabb, meanwhile, proved to be very difficult to bring down for the Giants last season. New York sacked him 15 times in two wins during its Super Bowl season two years ago, but didn’t register any last season in three games with Osi Umenyiora missing the year due to knee surgery.
Umenyiora set a Giants record with six sacks of McNabb in a 16-3 win Oct. 5, 2007, as he took advantage of then-rookie left tackle Winston Justice. Now the Eagles’ right tackle, Justice will go up against Umenyiora or Pro Bowl defensive end Justin Tuck — the cornerstones of New York’s top-ranked defense.
“We all know what type of player Osi is — he is an All-Pro guy; one that people focus in on,” McNabb said. “So I don’t think it is a change.
“The defense that they had — you always start off by saying Michael Strahan and Osi. Now you say Osi and Tuck. So there are two guys that you truly focus in on no matter if they are on the right side or left side. You just always know where they are.”
The Eagles bounced back from a 13-9 loss at lowly Oakland two weeks ago with a 27-17 road win over Washington on Monday night. DeSean Jackson scored on a 67-yard run and a 57-yard reception in the first half as Philadelphia built a 20-point lead and cruised.
The bad news for Philadelphia was the loss of running back Brian Westbrook in the first quarter with a concussion. His status for this week is uncertain.
“We’ll see what kind of improvement he makes,” coach Andy Reid said Wednesday. “He is doing the tests that the guys do throughout the week here. We’ll see how he does by the time we get to game time.”
New York receiver Steve Smith is second in the league with 45 catches and third with 594 yards through the air, but has failed to reach the end zone in his last three games. Rookie receiver Hakeem Nicks, though, had 194 yards in the last two games and scored a TD in each of the last four contests.
Manning believes the Giants should be able to correct their problems.
“We are 5-2, we’re not in a bad spot,” he said. “We are going to get back to playing better football.”
Vikings-Packers Preview
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For 16 seasons, Brett Favre was the face of the Green Bay Packers.
He enjoyed legendary status in Title Town, becoming the NFL’s all-time leading passer while winning three MVP awards and a Super Bowl. He was often cheered loudly at Lambeau Field, but this time he’ll be playing for the rival Minnesota Vikings, and likely won’t receive the same warm reception.
A mix of both cheers and boos is what Favre should expect as he takes the field for the first time as a visitor in Green Bay on Sunday as he tries to help the Vikings bounce back from their first loss and take a commanding lead in the NFC North.
A second-round pick by Atlanta in 1991, Favre was traded to Green Bay in 1992. He made his Packers debut later that year and eventually led the club to seven division titles, 11 playoff appearances and 13 winning seasons while starting 255 straight games. He set NFL records with 61,655 passing yards and 442 touchdowns and will one day be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Favre contemplated retirement for most of this decade, finally doing so shortly after Green Bay’s 23-20 overtime loss to the New York Giants in the NFC championship game on Jan. 20, 2008.
A few months after Favre’s tearful goodbye news conference in March of that year, the Packers traded him to the New York Jets when he tried to come back, only to learn Green Bay was committed to Aaron Rodgers. Favre started strong in New York, but the team lost four of its final five games to finish 9-7 and miss the playoffs, leading to his second retirement.
The Jets released Favre after the draft and he spent the summer working out before signing with Minnesota (6-1) in August.
Joining perhaps the Packers’ most bitter rival has not gone over well in Green Bay and despite just one losing season in his tenure with the club, Favre could receive an unruly greeting from the faithful who once adored him.
“I don’t think it’ll be as bad,” Favre said, “but I don’t know that.
“If you’re a true fan, you’re a true fan. The people that have jumped ship or whatever completely, what can I do? … There was always Brett Favre haters out there, and that will never change.”
Favre is downplaying any anxiety about returning to Lambeau, and insists he’s more concerned about the division race.
Favre is excelling with the first-place Vikings — passing for 1,681 yards, 12 touchdowns and just three interceptions — yet another reason Packers fans are a little irked.
The 40-year-old led Minnesota to six straight wins, including a 30-23 home victory over Green Bay (4-2) on Oct. 5. He was unable to extend that streak as the Vikings fell 27-17 at Pittsburgh last Sunday.
Minnesota outgained the Steelers 386-259 and held the ball for nearly 37 minutes yet still lost thanks to 11 penalties, two turnovers in the red zone that went for touchdowns and an inability to put the ball in the end zone from 1 yard out in the third quarter.
“We left a lot of plays out there. We had many opportunities to win,” cornerback Karl Paymah said. “We’ve just got to learn from it and just keep pushing.”
Favre was forced to attempt 50 passes as the Vikings struggled to get the ground game going with Adrian Peterson rushing for 69 yards on 18 carries.
Minnesota will have to be much sharper against a Packers defense that is starting to come together under new coordinator Dom Capers and his 3-4 scheme.
Favre completed 24 of 31 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns against Green Bay in Week 4, but the Packers have yielded just 288 total yards and three points in winning two games since.
After defeating Detroit 26-0 on Oct. 18, Green Bay — which ranks third in total defense (284.8 yards per game) and fifth in scoring defense (16.0 points per game) — outgained Cleveland 460-139 in a 31-3 win last Sunday.
Although those victories have come against teams with a combined 2-11 record, they’ve helped boost the Packers’ confidence.
“It’s good to have two big wins,” linebacker Aaron Kampman said. “We haven’t done that back to back. Dominant performances on the defensive side of the ball. Obviously it’s going to help us going into a very large game, large stage again at Lambeau Field.”
While fans at Lambeau might have mixed feelings for Favre, they are all rallying behind Rodgers.
He threw for 246 yards and a season-high three touchdowns against the Browns, is second in the league with a 110.8 rating and has passed for 1,702 yards with 11 TDs and only two picks.
“He deserves everything that he accomplishes,” Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said. “He’s just doing a really good job of running the offense and I can’t say enough about that.”
Rodgers finally had some time in the pocket last week as the offensive line didn’t allow a sack after giving up a league-worst 25 through the first five games.
He likely won’t have the same protection this week, though.
The Vikings lead the league with 24 sacks and sacked Rodgers eight times with Jared Allen accumulating 4 1/2, a forced fumble and a safety in the first meeting.
“We’re playing a much better opponent this week,” cornerback Charles Woodson said. “We can’t rest on the last two weeks.”
The Packers, 2-1 at home this season, have won three straight and 12 of 15 over the Vikings in Green Bay.
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